1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substantially pure thermostable DNA polymerase. Specifically, the DNA polymerase of the present invention is a Thermotoga neapolitana DNA polymerase having a molecular weight of about 100 kilodaltons. The present invention also relates to the cloning and expression of the Thermotoga neapolitana DNA polymerase in E. coli, to DNA molecules containing the cloned gene, and to hosts which express said genes. The DNA polymerase of the present invention may be used in DNA sequencing and amplification reactions.
This invention also relates to mutants of the Thermotoga neapolitana (Tne) DNA polymerase, having substantially reduced 3'.fwdarw.5' exonuclease activity; mutants of Thermotoga neapolitana containing a Phe.sup.67 .fwdarw.Tyr.sup.67 (as numbered in FIG. 5) mutation resulting in the ability of the mutant DNA polymerase to incorporate dideoxynucleotides into a DNA molecule about as efficiently as deoxynucleotides; and mutants having substantially reduced 5'.fwdarw.3' exonuclease activity. The Tne mutants of this invention can have one or more of these properties. These Tne DNA polymerase mutants may also be used in DNA sequencing and amplification reactions.
2. Background Information
DNA polymerases synthesize the formation of DNA molecules which are complementary to a DNA template. Upon hybridization of a primer to the single-stranded DNA template, polymerases synthesize DNA in the 5' to 3' direction, successively adding nucleotides to the 3'-hydroxyl group of the growing strand. Thus, in the presence of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) and a primer, a new DNA molecule, complementary to the single stranded DNA template, can be synthesized.
A number of DNA polymerases have been isolated from mesophilic microorganisms such as E coli. A number of these mesophilic DNA polymerases have also been cloned. Lin et al. cloned and expressed T4 DNA polymerase in E. coil (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:7000-7004 (1987)). Tabor et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,699) describes a cloned T7 DNA polymerase, while Minkley et al. (J. Biol. Chem. 259:10386-10392 (1984)) and Chatterjee (U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,342) described E. coli DNA polymerase I and the cloning of T5 DNA polymerase, respectively.
Although DNA polymerases from thermophiles are known, relatively little investigation has been done to isolate and even clone these enzymes. Chien et al., J. Bacteriol. 127:1550-1557 (1976) describe a purification scheme for obtaining a polymerase from Thermus aquaticus (Taq). The resulting protein had a molecular weight of about 63,000 daltons by gel filtration analysis and 68,000 daltons by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Kaledin et al., Biokhymiya 45:644-51 (1980) disclosed a purification procedure for isolating DNA polymerase from T. aquaticus YT1 strain. The purified enzyme was reported to be a 62,000 dalton monomeric protein. Gelfand et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,818) cloned a gene encoding a thermostable DNA polymerase from Thermus aquaticus. The molecular weight of this protein was found to be about 86,000 to 90,000 daltons.
Simpson et al. purified and partially characterized a thermostable DNA polymerase from a Thermotoga species (Biochem. Cell. Biol. 86:1292-1296 (1990)). The purified DNA polymerase isolated by Simpson et al. exhibited a molecular weight of 85,000 daltons as determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and size-exclusion chromatography. The enzyme exhibited half-lives of 3 minutes at 95.degree. C. and 60 minutes at 50.degree. C. in the absence of substrate and its pH optimum was in the range of pH 7.5 to 8.0. Triton X-100 appeared to enhance the thermostability of this enzyme. The strain used to obtain the thermostable DNA polymerase described by Simpson et al. was Thermotoga species strain FjSS3-B. 1 (Hussar et al., FEMS Microbiology Letters 37:121-127 (1986)). Other DNA polymerases have been isolated from thermophilic bacteria including Bacillus steraothermophilus (Stenesh et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 272:156-166 (1972); and Kaboev et al., J. Bacteriol. 145:21-26 (1981)) and several archaebacterial species (Rossi et al., System. Appl. Microbiol. 7:337-341 (1986); Klimczak et al., Biochemistry 25:4850-4855 (1986); and Elie et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 178:619-626 (1989)). The most extensively purified archaebacterial DNA polymerase had a reported half-life of 15 minutes at 87.degree. C. (Elie et al. (1989), supra). Innis et al., In PCR Protocol: A Guide To Methods and Amplification, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego (1990) noted that there are several extreme thermophilic eubacteria and archaebacteria that are capable of growth at very high temperatures (Bergquist et al., Biotech. Genet. Eng. Rev. 5:199-244 (1987); and Kelly et al., Biotechnol Prog. 4:47-62 (1988)) and suggested that these organisms may contain very thermostable DNA polymerases.
In many of the known polymerases, the 5'.fwdarw.3' exonuclease activity is present in the N-terminal region of the polymerase. (Ollis, et al., Nature 313:762-766 (1985); Freemont et al., Proteins 1:66-73 (1986); Joyce, Cur. Opin. Struct. Biol. 1:123-129 (1991).) There are some conserved amino acids that are thought to be responsible for the 5'.fwdarw.3' exonuclease activity. (Gutman & Olinton, Nucl. Acids Res. 21:4406-4407 (1993).) These amino acids include Tyr.sup.22, Gly.sup.103, Gly.sup.187, and Gly.sup.192 in E. coli polymerase I. Any mutation of these amino acids would reduce 5'-to-3' exonuclease activity. It is known that the 5'-exonuclease domain is dispensable. The best known example is the Klenow fragment of E. coli polymerase I. The Klenow fragment is a natural proteolytic fragment devoid of 5'-exonuclease activity (Joyce et. al., J. Biol. Chem. 257:1958-64 (1990).) Polymerases lacking this activity are useful for DNA sequencing.
Most DNA polymerases also contain a 3'.fwdarw.5' exonuclease activity. This exonuclease activity provides a proofreading ability to the DNA polymerase. A T5 DNA polymerase that lacks 3'.fwdarw.5' exonuclease activity is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,179. Polymerases lacking this activity are useful for DNA sequencing.
The polymerase active site, including the dNTP binding domain is usually present at the carboxyl terminal region of the polymerase (Ollis et al., Nature 313:762-766 (1985); Freemont et al., Proteins 1:66-73 (1986)). It has been shown that Phe.sup.762 of E. coli polymerase I is one of the amino acids that directly interacts with the nucleotides (Joyce & Steitz, Ann. Rev. Biochem. 63:777-822 (1994); Astatke, J. Biol. Chem. 270:1945-54 (1995)). Converting this amino acid to a Tyr results in a mutant DNA polymerase that does not discriminate against dideoxynucleotides and is highly processive. See copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/525,087, of Deb K. Chatterjee, filed Sep. 8, 1995, entitled "Mutant DNA Polymerases and the Use Thereof," which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to develop thermostable processive DNA polymerases. There also exists a need in the art to obtain wild type or mutant DNA polymerases that are devoid of exonuclease activities and are non-discriminating against dideoxynucleotides.